A group of protesters smashed windows in St. Paul on Monday while thousands more marched peacefully around the arena where the Republican party opened its presidential nominating convention with an appeal for hurricane relief. Chanting anti-war slogans and holding signs criticizing President George W. Bush, demonstrators marched from the Minnesota state capital to the heavily barricaded Xcel Center, where John McCain will accept the Republican presidential nomination later this week. A group that had broken off from the main march smashed several police car windows and a Macy's storefront, according to police and witnesses. Public safety officials put the crowd at 8,000 to 10,000 and reported seven arrests. The march wound past bus stops where advertisements from the Democratic National Committee showed Bush and McCain hugging with the slogan, “Does this look like change to you?” Several demonstrators carried signs saying “McSame=Bush.” Meanwhile, a risk modeler said Monday Hurricane Gustav will result in up to $10 billion in insured losses and a long-term five percent cut to oil and natural gas production in the US Gulf Coast region. Eqecat Inc, an Oakland, California-based specialist in extreme risk modeling, said that losses from the storm, which swept ashore midday Monday southwest of New Orleans, would range from six to 10 billion dollars, mostly focused in Louisiana. Aside from wind and water damage to commercial and residential structures, the estimate includes business operating losses due to shutdowns and a surge in costs of supplies. “In addition, production of crude oil and natural gas offshore in the US Gulf of Mexico will be impacted by asset damage and disruption,” Eqecat said in a statement. Palin's teenage daughter pregnant Republican vice presidential pick Sarah Palin revealed Monday her unmarried teenaged daughter is pregnant, in the latest bombshell to rock the party's Hurricane Gustav-curtailed convention. Palin said her daughter Bristol, 17, would have the baby and marry its father, as the convention held a shortened first day, shorn of political rhetoric out of respect for those sheltering from Gustav's wrath. “Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned,” Palin, a 44-year-old abortion foe, said in a statement with her husband Todd. “We're proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support,” they said. “Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family.
